Last week’s “Far, Far Away” was a big episode for Disney+ Star Wars series Ahsoka—though not really a big one for Ahsoka (Rosario Dawson) herself, since the Peridea-set action was given over to some other major story beats, including the arrival of two major characters: Thrawn (Lars Mikkelsen) and Ezra (Eman Esfandi).
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Sleep No More Lives Up to Its Legacy in Immersive Theater
Manhattan’s McKittrick hotel looms nondescriptly while housing an entire world of mystery and intrigue inspired by Shakespeare’s Scottish Play. During Halloween season io9 was invited to its current run.
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Update: With a New Commissioner, FCC Will Finally Try to Reinstate Net Neutrality
Update 9/26/23 at 6:06 p.m. ET: On Tuesday afternoon, Federal Communication Commission chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel announced the agency would indeed be rolling up its sleeves and would finally attempt to reinstate net neutrality rules.
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You Can Install macOS Sonoma Now, but You Should Wait
You may have heard that macOS Sonoma is ready to download after a months-long summer beta. But you should hold off on updating to the new version of the operating system if you can. There have been complaints from app developers that their apps are bugging out on the new OS. It’s best to take a beat before jumping…
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There's Something in the Barn Pits Martin Starr Against Killer Elves
Sometimes even the most flawed movies deserve a tip of the cap for sheer ambition. Sure, it didn’t quite hit the mark, but wow that effort was incredible. And the new Norwegian movie There’s Something in the Barn fits that description. Lots of it is good, lots of it is not, but it tries to hit such a weird, specific…
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An Invasive Brain-Infecting Worm Has Made Its Way to Georgia
A parasitic brain-infecting roundworm primarily spread by rats and snails is planting down roots in more parts of the U.S., research this week suggests. Scientists appear to have confirmed the presence of the parasite within local rodent populations in the state of Georgia. While human cases are considered rare, these…
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'First Official Unity User Group' Disbands Over Company's New Developer Fees
The self-proclaimed oldest cohort of Unity developers—called the Boston Unity Group—has announced that it is dissolving shortly after the game engine developer created a firestorm with changes to how it will charge its users.
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The Big One: FTC Sues Amazon for Operating Illegal Monopoly
Federal Trade Commissioner Lina Khan is finally entering the ring with Amazon, her oldest antitrust nemesis. The agency, along with 17 other state attorneys general, is officially suing Jezz Bezos’s e-commerce baby for growing and metastasizing into a trillion-dollar anti-competitive monopoly, allegedly at the expense…
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Carbon Capture Tech Hype Is Fizzling Out, IEA Says
The International Energy Agency (IEA) has released an updated road map this week for reaching zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050. The new report emphasizes that solutions like carbon capture technology and carbon credits have not lived up to their promise of removing CO2 from our atmosphere, while renewables have…
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Get a First Peek at General Strike, a New Comic Supporting the Hollywood Strikes
With hope on the horizon for an end to the WGA strike—and the SAG-AFTRA strike, too, fingers crossed—a new comic is here to celebrate the powerful Hollywood labor movement, with some big names attached.

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Meet Microsoft's New Surface Laptops
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U.S. Wants to Set Up a Hotline With China for Space Emergencies
As part of its efforts to watch over America’s assets in space, the United States Space Force is looking into establishing a line of communication with China in case of an emergency in orbit. It’s not clear, however, whether or not China will pick up the line.
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NASA’s Perseverance Rover Sets New Speed Records on Mars
NASA’s Perseverance rover, equipped with an advanced computer pilot known as AutoNav, has been making significant strides on the Martian surface, setting new speed records since its landing in February 2021.

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Amazon Is Using Your Conversations With Alexa to Train AI
Last week, at Amazon’s annual Fall hardware event, executive David Limp revealed the company would soon be upgrading the capabilities of its well-known voice assistant, Alexa, using the supposedly magical power of generative AI. Earlier this year, Amazon rolled out AlexaLLM, a large language model designed to be…
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Love Defies Science and Technology in Dystopian Tale Fingernails
Fingernails imagines a world where true love can be proven with the help of technology that ascertains what makes two people an ideal match. Sounds tidy, until a woman newly hired at a love-testing lab starts to fall for her co-worker... despite the fact that she’s already got a scientifically certified perfect…
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Scientists Are Closer to Finding a Test for Long Covid
Scientists may be closer to unraveling the mysteries of long covid. New research this week has found several potentially key differences in the blood of people diagnosed with the chronic ailment compared to those who were not. These differences could help scientists develop accurate diagnostic tests for the condition…
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Golden Globes Adds a Participation Trophy for Blockbusters
This January, expect to see two new awards handed out at the Golden Globes: “Cinematic and Box Office Achievement” and “Best Performance in Stand-Up Comedy on Television.” While the latter seems reasonable, and probably should have happened years ago, it’s the nature of the former award—which is similar to something th…
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Webb Telescope Data Suggests Ancient Galaxies Were Metal-Poor and Full of Gas
In the beginning, galaxies were lacking in chemical and metal abundances, according to a team of astronomers that recently used a telescope to study the ancient universe.
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The Animal Kingdom Is a Marvelous Movie About Mutants
If The Animal Kingdom was an average movie, you could figure out the whole story from just the premise. It’s a film about a world where humans have begun to mutate into animals. So, of course, it’s got to be about how most humans hate these mutants, treat them terribly, and we get to see how a small group of them…
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Tubi Adds ChatGPT for Your Recommendation Rabbit Holes
Tubi, an ad-supported streaming service, has rolled out a beta test for its OpenAI’s ChatGPT feature starting today, the company announced on Tuesday. The addition, titled Rabbit AI, will provide viewers with TV show and movie suggestions based on queries from the user.
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